Republic of Moldova

Team of consultants (international and national) for Mid Term Review

Vacancy Number: Pr17/01549

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	14 Jun 2017, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	03 Jul 2017
Reference to the project:	Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation
Expected Duration of Assignment:	18 working days for each consultant
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 14 June 2017. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: alexandru.rotaru@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants. This vacancy announcement can be found also at: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=72688.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Contacts:

Mr. Alexandru Rotaru.

alexandru.rotaru@undp.org

Background

The UNDP GEF “Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into Moldova territorial planning policies and land-use practices”, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and co-financed and implemented by the United Nations Development Program has an implementation timeframe of 4 years with a total budget of 0.99 million USD of which $958.904 USD comes from the GEF and $40,000 USD from UNDP.

Despite the Government’s reform efforts, the spatial/ territorial planning framework continues to be deficient, primarily because biodiversity conservation is not taken into account and the lack of coordination  has contributed to ecosystem fragmentation. The long term solution lies in reforming the manner in which agricultural, forestry and other production activities are planned and regulated across different land units and tenure categories at the landscape scale — so as to avoid, reduce and mitigate the pressures leading to biodiversity loss. There are two types of barriers to achieving this long term solution: (i) inadequacies in the planning and enforcement framework, and (ii) insufficient demonstrated experiences in biodiversity-compatible spatial planning and land management practices.

Against this background, the BD mainstreaming Project will be addressing the gaps in land planning and enforcement systems through development of relevant regulations, standards and legislation to accommodate  biodiversity conservation objectives while the gap of limited coordination across sectors will be addressed  by establishing a multi-stakeholder committee which will ensure a unified approach in the development, implementation and enforcement of land-use plans from the different ministries and departments. In addition, a monitoring system will be emplaced among the various regulatory agencies, assigning responsibilities based on comparative advantage, in order to evaluate acceptable limits of change in biodiversity-important areas. The gap of inadequate demonstrated experiences in spatial planning and biodiversity-compatible land management practices will be tackled through development and testing of  biodiversity-compatible district spatial (land-use) plans in 2 districts of Moldova, relying on cross-sectoral working groups, GIS technologies for biodiversity mapping, identification of sites of conflict between biodiversity and human activities and others.

Overall, the objective of the project is to mainstream biodiversity conservation priorities into Moldova’s territorial planning policies and land-use practices through two components – the first will focus on modifying the land use planning and enforcement system so that it addresses biodiversity loss, and the second will demonstrate methods for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity on communal lands outside PAs.

Scope of work

The MTR must provide evidence based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The MTR team of consultants, led by international consultant and assisted by the national consultant, will review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared during the preparation phase (i.e. PIF, UNDP Initiation Plan, UNDP Environmental & Social Safeguard Policy, the Project Document, project reports including Annual Project Review/PIRs, project budget revisions, lesson learned reports, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based review). The MTR international consultant will review the baseline GEF focal area Tracking Tool submitted to the GEF at CEO endorsement, and the midterm GEF focal area Tracking Tool that must be completed before the MTR field mission begins. 

The MTR team is expected to follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close engagement with the Project Team, government counterparts (the GEF Operational Focal Point), the UNDP Country Office(s), UNDP-GEF Regional Technical Advisers, and other key stakeholders.

Engagement of stakeholders is vital to a successful MTR. Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities, including but not limited to Ministry of Environment, Moldsilva Forest Agency, Cadastre Agency, Ministry of Regional Development and Construction, UNDP Moldova staff, UNDP Istanbul Regional Technical Advisor on Biodiversity, executing agencies, senior officials and task team/ component leaders, key experts and consultants in the subject area, Project Board, project stakeholders, academia, local government and CSOs, etc. Additionally, the MTR team is expected to conduct a field mission to Chisinau which will consist of a minimum of 5 working days (not including weekend or travel days). While in Moldova, the international consultant will meet with all key stakeholders and assess the results of the project and the extent that it is on track to meet its overall objective and outcomes. Field visits to Soroca and Stefan-Voda districts will be conducted during the in-country visit. Skype interviews will also be carried out with all other key stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of the project.

The final MTR report should describe the full MTR approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the review.

The MTR team will assess the following four categories of project progress. See the Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects for extended descriptions.

1. Project Strategy

 Project design:

• Review the problem addressed by the project and the underlying assumptions. Review the effect of any incorrect assumptions or changes to the context to achieving the project results as outlined in the Project Document.
• Review the relevance of the project strategy and assess whether it provides the most effective route towards expected/intended results. Were lessons from other relevant projects properly incorporated into the project design?
• Review how the project addresses country priorities. Review country ownership. Was the project concept in line with the national sector development priorities and plans of the country (or of participating countries in the case of multi-country projects)?
• Review decision-making processes: were perspectives of those who would be affected by project decisions, those who could affect the outcomes, and those who could contribute information or other resources to the process, taken into account during project design processes?
• Review the extent to which relevant gender issues were raised in the project design. See Annex 9 of Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects for further guidelines.
• If there are major areas of concern, recommend areas for improvement.

Results Framework/Logframe:

• Undertake a critical analysis of the project’s logframe indicators and targets, assess how “SMART” the midterm and end-of-project targets are (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound), and suggest specific amendments/revisions to the targets and indicators as necessary.
• Are the project’s objectives and outcomes or components clear, practical, and feasible within the project's time frame?
• Examine if progress so far has led to, or could in the future catalyse beneficial development effects (i.e. income generation, gender equality and women’s empowerment, improved governance etc...) that should be included in the project results framework and monitored on an annual basis.
• Ensure broader development and gender aspects of the project are being monitored effectively. Develop and recommend SMART ‘development’ indicators, including sex-disaggregated indicators and indicators that capture development benefits.

For detailed information, please refer to the Terms of Reference. 

Requirements for experience

The International Consultant - MTR Consultant should have the following qualifications and experience:

 Academic qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Biodiversity Conservation, Natural Resource Management, Environmental management and/or other related fields.

Experience:

• At least 7 (seven) years of work experience in the biodiversity area;
• At least 7 (seven) years’ work experience with result-based management evaluation methodologies in the areas relevant to this assignment;
• Experience in UNDP GEF project evaluation/review, including experience with SMART based indicators;
• Experience in working with international technical assistance projects in the Europe and CIS region with international organizations ( experience in Republic of Moldova will be an asset );
• Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and biodiversity linkages; experience in gender sensitive evaluations/review and analysis;
• Proven experience in preparation of written reports in an accurate and concise manner in English;
• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of analytical documents;
• Ability to achieve results and deadlines in a timely manner, maintaining a high standard throughout;
• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of analytical documents.

 Language requirements:

• Writing and verbal skills in English, knowledge of Romanian or Russian would be an asset.

The National Consultant - MTR Consultant should have the following qualifications and experience:

Academic qualifications:

• University degree in Biodiversity Conservation, Natural Resource Management, Environment, Biology or other related fields. Advanced degree is an asset;

Experience:

• At least 3 (three) years of experience in providing management or consultancy services to the biodiversity conservation or environment projects;
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation of environment projects for UNDP or other international development agencies in the country or region;
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation of biodiversity conservation will be an asset;
• Experience with UNDP and/or other international projects are an advantage;
• Proven experience in preparation of written reports in an accurate and concise manner in English.

Language requirements:

• Writing and verbal skills in English, Romanian and Russian.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal: Brief proposal explaining why you are the most suitable for this consultancy including confirmation on availability to take up assignment for the whole period. 
2. Personal information (Personal History Form/P11) including past experience in similar projects.
3. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying the total lump sum amount as well as the requested amount of the fee per day).

 

Financial proposal

 Lump sum contracts  

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount including travel for international consultant and no travel expenses should be included in national consultant offer , and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.

In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including all related costs e.g. fees, taxes, travel, phone calls etc.) and the number of anticipated working days. The consultant shall bare costs for all supplies needed for data collection and data processing including possession of his own personal computer. 

Travel

International travel (5 working days – mission for international consultant) will be required to Moldova which is called the Mid-Term Review mission; This 5 working days mission does not include travel days or weekend days which means that the consultant will need to stay one weekend in Moldova. Weekend days are not considered working days.  All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal.

No international travel is envisaged for the local consultant.

Local travel (in-country field visits) will be covered by the Project.

 

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